Tuesday, September 03, 2013

WILDCATS DEFLECT BEARS' BID FOR UPSET

Young Mr. Goff/Posey demonstrated all the poise, composure,
focus and athleticism as his doppelganger across the bay.Separated at birth?Or just born with MVP genes?

The best part?He
grew up watching games in section DD—same as a tall good lookin’ guy who is apt to get a few less Christmas Cards from Cal this year.

If you watched any of his interviews after
the game, you couldn’t help but come away with what a great job of parenting
his folks have done.

Speaking of great parenting, I feel most sorry for Zach Kline’s
parents.Zach was in a full on completion
with Goff, and barely lost.Young Kline, is a
stud athlete and by all reports an outstanding young man.Barring
injury, he’s not looking at a lot of playing time down the road.

Of course, at every position on O and D there is a set of
parents or guardians who bleed because there kid is not in there.‘Twas always thus.

(When my kid was a Freshman 6th string qb behind
Brady Quinn at Notre Dame (he was NEVER
going to play), it was a hoot to sit with the parents in the stands.To a person, the only problem with the team
was that Tyrone Willingham wasn’t playing their kid enough.If only their kid were in then……)

Back to the game: There’s
nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning on the eve of Cal’s first home
game.It’s like springtime—life seems
fresh and hope springs eternal.Like a
kid waiting to see what Santa has brought on Christmas morn, we can’t wait to
hit the Cal campus (one of the two best
places to watch a Cal home game), wander the tailgates and join one’s friends
to exchange profound profundities and demonstrate to one another how (like the
2nd string players) if only each one of us were Coach, AD, or
Chancellor, how much better the world would be.

Egotistical?Duh.But that’s why “Fan” is short
for “Fanatics.”True fans are never
rational.

The Sporting Green is sacred, treated like a holy relic and
read only one way:Slowly.Painstakingly,
we read all the other articles—even about the Indians--saving the Bear
columns for last, like a tantalizing dessert you’ve waited all week to taste.

Now a-days one can
print out a variety of columns from the internet to add additional courses to
the love feast.

We are so easily amused.

There was a time, of course, when we could pack up the car
on fall mornings and head to Strawberry canyon bubbling over with excitement
and anticipation.Alas, we now live in
the TBD world of ESPN and like functionaries in a Kafka novel, faceless
bureaucrats tell us when we are allowed to
play our own games on our own campii.

With chills running down my spine I couldn't wait to see my “homies”
and for those first two beers, maybe a Bloody Mary to boot. Then, of
course, it’s time to get out of bed for breakfast.

At the last moment a client came in and we couldn't leave
the Valley in time for the 7:30 kick off. This "working" thing often
gets in the way of tailgating.

So I had to miss the pageantry and excitement of opening
day. What I missed most was getting to see those young men on their March
to Victory dressed in blazers and ties--looking sharp--looking
disciplined--looking like a team--a family.

I used to cringe at some of
the "Gangstah" looks that kids on past teams wore on the March to
Victory.

(We were raised on Mr. Carpy's
"A guy who cares enough to look like a ball player, just might be a ball
player).

I well remember the first time I got to suit up (I was just
a "green weenie," scout team guy) and was given the Cal Blazer (we
had to buy the yellow shirt and tie at George Good's).

The pride I felt getting off that bus and walking into that
stadium stays with me today--and I was never going to play.

The only thing better was being fully dressed and waiting in
that darkened tunnel for the signal to run out on to a field where Andy Smith's
ashes were scattered.There is literally
a tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

It's so dark, that the pupils of your eyes are agape.
Then the signal is given and you run out and are blinded by the light as the
cannon goes off, the band plays, the cheerleaders dance, and the crowd
yells.

That is an aspect of College football that all the TV
revenue in the world can never replace, nor comprehend--but I digress.

As to the game itself, you've read all there is to read
about it. Unlike only one other thing in life, it was better than
advertised.

The kids swarmed around the
ball. They hit and hit hard. Bigelow started off making a tall good
lookin' guy look prescient as far back as two years ago.

The fake field goal and D’amato’s shot put pass to Matt Bouza’s kid was
like emptying the dishwasher and then giving your wife a blank check at Gucci’s.You own her for at least 24 hours.

Coach Dykes had 58,000 fans eating out of his hand.

(Speaking of kids, how about Brian Tregg’s kid, Bryce.He had his big boy pants on). Dad's numbers are apt to be surpassed--in a matter of days.

The deflections?

Vince Lombardi used to say that in football 22 men can play for 59
minutes—do everything right—and then
some defensive back slips in the mud and you lose the game.

Two pass deflections run back for TDs?Not unheard of but rare.(It’s
why Ray Willsey used to use Daryl Royal’s line “ When you pass the ball three
things can happen—and two of them are bad.”)

Alan Dundees might tell you Mouse Davis and June Jones played Thesueus
to King Minos, killing the Minatour, on Crete, and then instituting the first
Athenian Democracy.

Davis and Jones “killed” the status quo—the tyrannical attitude that
football was about hard nosed running first and foremost.

They (and others) laid the ground
work for what we now see as the Bear Raid.They overthrew (no pun intended) the Establishment and like
true heroes returned to gave us (the hoi polloi) something new.

Unheroic was the “professional” team-wide faking of injuries to slow us
down.("We smell poses"). Here we are supposed to be
teaching these kids to become good citizens, and (under the guidance of the coaching staff) with the co-operation of the
medical staff we witnessed a national educational disgrace.
The training staff--which should not be a part of this--immediately surrounded the “Injured” player. Then they let him walk off under his own power and return to the game a play or two
later. It was a sad commentary. Teaching children to "game the system"--essentially lie--is not cool at any University--especially one as renowned as Northwestern.

Quick rule change: If you're hurt and leave the field (this is for your own safety), you're out for the next two series--or 10 plays--or for the next quarter--figure it out, but get it inserted.

Of course Cal wrote the book on that (ok, we didn’t write it but we got
caught and punished for it).

L’affair Lupois was a dark moment in Cal football.We lost a fine, fine young man and an amazing
recruiter.

Anyway, it’s quite an evolution and quite exciting to watch. (What's disconcerting is that SEC schools are probably watching it too--but that is the state of College football).

The conventional wisdom is that we may not win many games but we won’t
be dull.If I heard right, only 6 of the
22 starters were Seniors.

If that’s the case, Coach Shaw better not get too Cocky.There are a lot of games between now and Big
Game (at Cal, now) and it’s a fair guess (no matter what our record) we
probably won’t be getting worse.

About Me

I write a Weekly Column for the St. Helena Star and have a Weekly Radio Show on KVON 1440am (KVON.com) on Wednesday's at 5pm. My Columns are about daily small town life in rural St. Helena. I'm old school and often write about the "old Days." I'm a Capitalist an believe in individual liberty and the rugged individualist. I also do a weekly blog on my trips to the Cal Bears Football games--but you gotta luv the Bears to like it. Having no marketable skills I sell dirt (vineyards wineries, ranches and estates), having formerly been a Creative Director and Copy Writer in New York and S.F.